Guys and Bars
by binkeybella
Summary: Gibbs and Tony take a quick road-trip down the coast. Slight spoilers for "Bury Your Dead". No slash. Father/Son. Sequel to Guys and Cars.


Title: Guys and Bars  
Rated: T, mostly for language  
Genre: Family/friendship  
Summary: Gibbs and Tony take a quick road-trip down the coast.

**Thanks so much to gotgoats for her loving beta. Again, this is probably OOC, so be warned, and perhaps spoilers for 'Bury Your Dead'. Just a bit of Gibbs and Tony fluff, no slash, F/S.  
Next up I'll finish the newest 'Regretting' chapter, just had to follow my muse on this one!**

They had skidded pleasantly down I-95, through the Carolinas and Georgia and on into Florida, stopping to dine at some famous and probably infamous eateries along the way. Tony was smiling more now, and Gibbs was encouraged to see it. He knew that it wasn't that the younger man had forgotten all about yesterday - short of permanent amnesia, Tony would never forget a single hour of it. He just understood his second well enough to know DiNozzo was stuffing it down to a manageable place where he would deal with it in increments. It didn't matter to Gibbs, he was certainly no stranger to stuffing away unpleasant things, and knew all too well this was too much for anybody to manage in one bite.

It didn't hurt that they had done some serious talking, and, yes, even Gibbs would admit, some bonding, while they drove. Granted, Tony had done most of the talking, but just having Gibbs really listen to him enough to make one-word comments instead of grunts, and even an entire sentence if it was really important, seemed to lighten the younger man's spirits immensely. And for a while, Gibbs forgot that his original Probie and old flame had tossed someone she knew he cared a great deal about in under the proverbial bus to avenge her father. He of all people knew how determined she could be, she certainly hadn't gotten where she was by always playing it safe, but this was beyond even _his_ comprehension. If she wanted to sacrifice her career and possibly risk federal charges, that was idiotic enough. But to use Tony as an unwilling tool do it...that was, for him, unforgivable.

He'd enlightened DiNozzo at a diner outside of Savannah as to what had happened last night after hours, and thought perhaps his SFA was going to run screaming back to his Mustang at times, but Tony sat through it, and Gibbs left an extra-large tip for the patient waitress who had had to mop up an entire large glass of Pepsi that his second had knocked over in shock and surprise at what Gibbs was telling him.

_flashback_

By 18:00 hours, Gibbs saw no point in keeping his exhausted team in the bullpen any longer, and sent them all home on three days off rotation while their director could make an attempt to get her head out of her ass. Those were pretty much Gibb's words verbatim, even while he knew she was watching them from the balcony above. He didn't give a damn, not after the day they'd all had at her hand; in fact, he couldn't wait to get up there and really let her know what was on his mind. He watched DiNozzo closely while the younger man packed up to leave and noted his shocky pallor and slightly trembling hands even though Tony tried to hide it.

"My place, 19:00, order pizza for 45 minutes from now, I'll pick it up," was all Gibbs said as he blew by the younger man on his way to the stairs. _Tony merely nodded, grabbed his pack, and disappeared into the elevator; he had taken his time getting ready to leave so he would have it to himself. He just didn't feel like talking to anyone about anything right now. Gibb's basement was the perfect place to hide out and lick his wounds for the night, while his boss attempted to calm his own frayed nerves in a quiet bout of sanding and drinking._ _It would be implicitly understood that no talking by either one of them would be expected or required._

By the time Tony had reached his car, Gibbs was in full-swing of a tirade with their director. He didn't care if the entire building heard him, and her personal assistant Cynthia most certainly did, even with the door closed, and braced herself for the fall-out.

"So tell me, Jen, was it worth it? All this screwin' around, almost getting Tony killed, and still no Frog?"

"Don't you lecture me!" she rounded on him, rising up from her chair. "I know all too well about your 'whale hunt' for Ari!"

"He came onto our territory, shot me, shot Gerald, and kidnapped Kate! You think I didn't need to go after him?"

"I think you need to quit being a hypocrite when it comes to deciding who gets to play 'Captain Ahab'!"

"I never let it get in the way of my job, Jen! And I never USED _anybody as BAIT_ _to get my hands on him! Gee-zus, Jen! TONY? Of all the agents you could have used, and you sacrifice HIM!"_

"As I recall at the time, YOU were wanting him gone, as in, 'I don't care if he gets run over by a train, as long as he's gone'! He was causing too much disruption on the team, even Ziva and Tim were disgusted with him! I gave him a choice, he chose my op."

"You threw him between a rock and a hard place, and you KNOW that whole goat rope of a situation was MY fault, not HIS! If anyone should have been gone, it should have been me!"

"And you really THINK I would have let you leave over him? After all we've -"

"Jesus, Jen, you really thought you'd get back into my pants after tossing me under the bus for your career? Like I just forgot how it felt to get that letter from you and make myself get on with my life while you walked away to claw your way to the top of the ladder? You MADE your choice, you can't have a do-over after what you did to me! And now you're telling me you forced him into a no-win situation to make sure I was the one that didn't quit again? You KNOW what he means to me, Jen...I might have had my head up my ass when I came back from Mexico, but I figured things out and made things right with him...and now to see him -"

"It wasn't him!" she ground out, as if that legitimized what she had done to Tony, and to the people who thought of him as family.

"I DIDN'T KNOW THAT!" he yelled back at her, looking ready to clear the top of her desk with a swipe of his arm. "I saw his car blow up in front of my eyes, I walked up to a body burned beyond recognition thinking it was my-  
my kid. My Tony. I know you don't think of him the way I do, I don't expect that from you. But I expected you to care enough about ME to not put him in that kind of jeopardy, especially for some asinine revenge plot!"

"It is not ASININE, he killed my - "

Jenny's face lost color and she collapsed back into her chair, her own cover blown with her anger causing her to lose her cool."

"Don't CARE anymore, Jen. Might have at one time, if you'd come to me and let me know what the hell was going on."

"You were boozing it up in Mexico!"

"Was. Been back for months. Could've read me in and let me help you do it the RIGHT way instead of losing your head and throwing Tony to the wolves. Whatever shit blows back on you from this, I'm not helping to cover your ass, yer on your own. SecNav asks for my report, it's getting written the way it went down, he wants your head on a platter, then so be it. It's your head this time, not Tony's body on Ducky's slab. Yer gettin' him a new car, by the way. Tonight. I'll email you which one, it's up to you to find it and have it in my driveway by 08:00 tomorrow, tags and registration on it, ready to drive. Don't care how ya do it. Take it outta petty cash for all I care, but do it, or I'll make your life a living hell until one of us retires."

He didn't bother to wait for any reply or excuses, merely turned on his heel and was out the door before she could barely open her mouth to protest. The senior agent didn't care what else she had to say, he had reached his limit hours ago, and knew if he didn't walk away from her right then, he would turn into something that even he didn't recognize. Even though he knew DiNozzo was alive, was safe back in the fold of the bullpen, Gibb's insides still ached from being clenched into knots from the moment he knew Tony was in trouble, until the second the elevator doors opened to_spit him back out to a heartsick and worried team._

He didn't care what his Director was thinking at the moment, all he cared about now was picking up Tony's pizza and being there for him if he wanted to talk about what had happened. Gibbs was pretty sure DiNozzo was as far from talking about it as they'd ever get tonight, but he wanted his boy near him, just for his own peace of mind. Twenty minutes later, he was rolling into his driveway, one large pizza and six-pack of Tony's favorite beer in hand, and he smiled to see Abby's hotrod in the driveway. Good. Abby could at least soothe some of the harshness of the day, and maybe get the guy to eat something.

"Ate almost half the pizza before I realized what she'd done." Tony smiled and reminisced around a french fry. Then he was quiet again, his eyes and mind traveling out the diner window to the new black Mustang. "Won"t ever make up for what she did to me, but - I hope she had to pay for it out of her personal account. It'll bite 'er in the ass every time she sees it."

"Hope so. And I'm sorry I didn't know how deep you were in this, Tony."

"Yeah, well...like you said, wasn't much you could have done about it; by the time you knew about it and cared what was happening to me, I was way beyond redemption. By then, I was too ashamed to tell you what I'd done. Figured you'd...think less of me than you already had."

"Wouldn't've done, DiNozzo!" Gibbs bristled. "You _know_my record with relationships, I had no business getting into anything deep with my ex's, much less marryin' them, I was selfish, and in it for worse reasons than you were. Hurt 'em bad, deserved everything they threw at me."

"Including the seven iron to the back of your head." Tony grinned, his eyes glinting mischievously.

"Yup,that too. Didn't think so when Duck was stitching me up, but yeah, I'd pissed her off beyond reason, it's a wonder she didn't go after me with a shotgun. Point is, you didn't set out to hurt Jeanne, or have any idea you'd fall for her like you did. Don't beat yourself up for too long over it, you don't need crippling guilt on top of a broken heart."

With those words of advice, or perhaps they were an order, Gibbs downed the rest of his coffee and threw a ten dollar bill on the table for a tip.

"C'mon, DiNozzo, your horse is getting restless, let's see if we can make it to the bar before dark and get Kate's new picture on the wall. Wednesday night, shouldn't be too crowded."

Tony sucked down the last of his soft drink and paid the bill, hot-footing it out of the diner behind his boss. Not for the first time that day did he notice Gibb's footwear, a pair of ratty, high-top All-Star sneakers. It was the first time he could remember the man wearing them outside of the NCIS gym. He knew his boss was looking to distance himself from what had happened yesterday, and felt a pang of regret for the pain he had caused the man, knowing it must have rocked him to the core to see his SFA die a horrible death on that live-feed screen in MTAC. Gibbs had even admitted to having nightmares from it, and Tony knew it took a lot to cause the man to have them. He also knew there was nothing for it but time to, if not heal their wounds, at least scab them over. The two of them were experts in that department.

He looked at the prime example of it as he climbed into the driver's seat of his car. There in the middle console was a framed photo of Kate, a collage of sorts that he had called Abby and asked her to photo shop and send to a Walgreens along their route, where he'd had it printed. She'd asked him why he'd wanted it, and he'd given her a vague explanation, never letting on that he and Gibbs were miles from home, and planning to go much further before the day was out. They had not spoken a word between them about Kate, but it was mutually understood that both of their minds were going back to their early days. He wondered what Kate would have had to say about Jeanne and what he had unintentionally done to her, and cringed at the thought of how long and hard she would have chided him for it. Then he cringed again at the realization that Ziva would undoubtedly rake him over the coals for his bad judgment calls.

"You cold, DiNozzo?" Gibbs asked, not thinking that the temperature had dropped much since they'd been in the diner.

"Nah, Boss, just...thinking about the fallout when we get back to the office. Zee-vah's going to rake me over the coals for this."

"Yeah, I'm sure she is. She shouldn't, it's none of her business, but we both know she will anyways. Don't think about it for now. Let's get back on the road and see if we can even get a hotel anywhere down there. We _may_ be sleeping in yer new car in a roadside campground."

Tony smiled and shifted into gear, revving his engine on the way out of the diner's parking lot. Yesterday his life had sucked, and it would suck again when they got back home but for right now, he was driving a fabulous new car, and the man he considered his closest friend and family member beside him on a mini-road trip to Panama City Beach. Real life would still be waiting for him when he got back to the bullpen, but until then, he was going to enjoy the drive.


End file.
